TSMC Suspends Advanced GPU Production for Chinese Startup

The US government is getting serious about semiconductors, and that’s bad news for China. Following new export controls targeted at stemming the flow of high-performance chips to China, Taiwan-based TSMC has halted production of GPUs for China’s Biren Technology. TSMC reportedly fears the chips may be powerful enough to fall under sanctions, but Biren says its designs should not be subject to export rules.

Announced earlier this month, the Commerce Department action is aimed at reducing the Chinese government’s access to high-performance computing hardware and manufacturing equipment. The US says China has poured resources into supercomputer initiatives which it used to design nuclear weapons and conduct wide-range surveillance on its citizens. This move came just months after the US government passed the CHIPS Act, which includes billions in subsidies to bolster US chip manufacturing.

Following the announcement of export controls, powerful GPUs from AMD and Nvidia were no longer allowed to flow freely into China. However, Biren Technology focuses on simpler general-purpose GPUs like the BR100. However, the BR100 is among the more powerful homegrown Chinese designs. TSMC is apparently concerned that since the BR100 can outperform the Nvidia A100 and similar enterprise GPUs, that it could be covered by export controls. TSMC will evaluate the rules and could choose to restart Biren production at a later date.

Even though TSMC is not US-based, the Commerce Department requires companies that use US technology to abide by its statutes. Failing to do so can get a company added to the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) Entity List, which blocks them from doing business with any US company or accessing US technology. Landing on the Entity List is likely to cripple a small firm like Biren. Being added to the Entity List knocked Huawei off course as it was poised to become the world’s largest smartphone manufacturer in 2020.

Taiwan is just 100 miles off the coast of China, and the Chinese government claims the island as part of its territory. The heightened chip tensions have renewed fears that China could choose to act on its claim to take over the island, which is not recognized as an independent nation by most world governments. Taiwan’s National Security Bureau recently claimed that taking over TSMC wouldn’t do China any good as the company would be unable to produce semiconductors without its international partners and supply chain.

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